Saoirse - Irish Freedom

Saoirse - Irish Freedom is the monthly newspaper of the Irish political party Republican Sinn Féin. The name is taken from "Irish Freedom - Saoirse", which was a Fenian paper of the early 1910s. IUPUI University Library has collaborated with the School of Liberal Arts to digitize and chronologically display older issues of the newspaper which were previously unavailable online. More recent issues are available in the Saoirse Online Newsroom archive.

Other newspapers associated with Sinn Féin include An Phoblacht (1920s and 1930s), The United Irishman (1940s-1960s), and An Phoblacht (founded 1970) and Republican News (founded 1970) and merged into An Phoblacht/Republican News (1979).

Sinn Féin, founded in 1905, has a lengthy history of abstaining from any parliament other than an All-Ireland, 32-County one. Republican Sinn Féin was founded in November 1986. At the 1986 annual convention (Ard-Fheis) of Provisional Sinn Féin, delegates voted to allow party members to take their seats, if elected, in the Dublin parliament (also known as Leinster House), thereby ending the party's traditional abstention from that parliament. In response, several delegates, arguing that the vote was unconstitutional, walked out of the Ard-Fheis and formed Republican Sinn Féin. This paralleled the creation of Provisional Sinn Féin, in January 1970, when a group of delegates walked out of the Sinn Féin Ard-Fheis in response to a motion that would have endorsed ending abstention from the Dublin, Belfast (Stormont) and London parliaments. Many of those who founded Republican Sinn Féin also founded Provisional Sinn Féin.

Soon after the walkout in November 1986, Republican Sinn Féin published the first edition of Republican Bulletin. Republican Bulletin was published monthly until May 1987, at which point Saoirse - Irish Freedom became the monthly newspaper of Republican Sinn Féin. For more information on Republican Sinn Féin and Saoirse - Irish Freedom, see http://www.rsf.ie/.

The IUPUI School of Liberal Arts strives to create and exchange knowledge that promotes understanding of the human experience. The school contributes to the social, cultural and economic development of the state by fostering life-long learning. IUPUI University Library has collaborated with the School of Liberal Arts to digitize older issues of the Saoirse Irish Freedom newspaper which were previously unavailable online.